A group of California Democrats unveiled legislation Friday to place new requirements on how congressional districts are redrawn a day after the Supreme Court ruled that courts can’t resolve partisan gerrymandering claims.
The bill, led by House Rules Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) along with Reps. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) and Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), would require that states adopt independent redistricting commissions to draw new district maps after each decennial census.
The proposal comes one day after the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision along ideological lines, found that partisan gerrymandering claims are a political issue that courts can’t weigh in on.
“If the U.S. Supreme Court won’t fight to protect Americans’ votes, then Congress will,” Lofgren said in a statement Friday.
“Our democracy cannot function properly unless every person’s vote counts equally, and voters choose their elected officials, not the other way around. My bill would fix our broken redistricting process to ensure all voices are heard and politicians are held accountable.”
The majority of California Democrats in the House also back the bill, according to a press release.
The bill would require that states create 15-member commissions to draw congressional districts, rather than leaving the responsibility to state legislatures.
Each commission would be evenly divided among three political affiliations — the state’s majority party, minority party and an unaffiliated or minor party.
And the bill calls for a three-judge court to create and implement a plan if states fail to create the commissions or to adopt a commission’s map.
The legislation echoes provisions included in House Democrat’s anti-corruption legislative package H.R. 1, which passed the House earlier this year. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said that he won’t bring it up for a vote on the Senate floor.
View Original Publication: The Hill